You for your word. I pray that you would instruct us this morning, that you would illuminate the scripture, bring it to life. God, what a gift it is to be your people, to be your church. God, this is your idea. The family of God with all kinds of God, we come here with all kinds of stuff on our hearts and in our minds.
Rev. Terence Gray:We come here imperfect and flawed and broken. But God, this is still plan a for you to get your word into the world. And for that, we are grateful that you use us as your church. God, help us to continue to love one another as you have loved us. I pray that you would move me out of the way this morning, that I would decrease, and that you would increase and be made much of in the lives of your people.
Rev. Terence Gray:It's in the name of Jesus Christ that we pray together. Amen. The other day, I was watching Sesame Street. That's what you do when you have a five year old and a eight month old at home. You watch Sesame Street.
Rev. Terence Gray:And, you know, the the the song goes like this. Like, this. Need a sweeping the clouds away. You know it. On my way to where the air is sweet.
Rev. Terence Gray:Can you tell me how to get how to get two sausages? Alright. Alright. Alright. But if you listen to that song, it paints the picture of just this wonderful day on Sesame Street.
Rev. Terence Gray:Sunny days, clouds are swept away, the air is sweet. Sounds pretty good to me. But the other day I was watching Sesame Street and this was an interesting episode. On this particular episode, it wasn't a sunny day. As a matter of fact, on Sesame Street there was a storm.
Rev. Terence Gray:There was a storm coming to Sesame Street. And so everyone was boarding up their doors and getting ready and boarding up their windows and buying canned foods because they expected to be stormed in. And so everybody was preparing for the storm. Grover, if you're familiar with Sesame Street, the little blue guy, Grover said he wasn't going to stick around for the storm. As a matter of fact, Grover was building a spaceship, and Grover said, I'm not sticking around for this storm.
Rev. Terence Gray:I'm get this on here. Grover says, I'm going to the moon because there are no storms on the moon. And so sure enough, Grover builds his spaceship. I'm a go all the way. Grover builds his spaceship, and it malfunctions.
Rev. Terence Gray:And so his spaceship just blows up, and he has to endure the storm with everyone else. He gets through the storm, and then he's walking outside with his his helmet on. And everyone is cleaning up and, you know, picking up after the storm. And Elmo you all know Elmo, the little red guy. Elmo sees Grover with his space helmet on.
Rev. Terence Gray:He says, what are you doing? Why do you have that helmet on? And he says, Elmo, I'm going to the moon because I don't want to go through another storm again. As long as I'm here, there are gonna be storms, but there are no storms on the moon. And Elmo gives Grover words of wisdom.
Rev. Terence Gray:He says, look around you, Grover. Everybody is picking up together. Look at all the good stuff around you. Don't don't try to go to the moon. All of us have a little Grover in us.
Rev. Terence Gray:Maybe maybe you're not trying to get to the moon. Maybe some of you guys might be trying to get to the moon. But maybe, just maybe, you wish things were just a little easier. We don't wanna go to the moon, but boy, would we like an easier marriage. We don't wanna go to the moon, but man, wouldn't it be nice to have an easier job?
Rev. Terence Gray:We don't wanna go to the moon, but man, wouldn't we like someone else's health, someone else's schedule, someone else's problems, because they have better problems than you have. So so wouldn't it be great to have someone else's problems? But friends, God never promises us a life without promise without problems. He doesn't give us a world without problems. Instead, he leaves us in this one, and he provides the grace to get through this one.
Rev. Terence Gray:And that's what Grover had to eventually discover. There were still people who loved him. There was still a community around him. There were still reasons to be grateful. And with that understanding, Grover, he no longer felt the need to go to the moon.
Rev. Terence Gray:He found peace even in the storm. He found peace even in the chaos. That leads me to the question I wanna wrestle with today. You and I live in a restless world, a world that never stops, a world that keeps going, a world that invents new problems every day. And so the question is, where do we find rest in a restless world that never rests?
Rev. Terence Gray:Where do we find rest in a restless world that never rest. The effects of this fallen world doesn't stop. The world is busy, and we often find ourselves busy trying to keep up with it. John Mark Comer, a pastor and thought leader says this, he says, if the devil can't make you sin, he'll make you busy. There's a truth there's truth in that.
Rev. Terence Gray:Both sin and busyness have the exact same effect. They cut off your connection to God, to other people, and even to your own soul. You and I were designed for intimacy and fellowship with God. That's what we see in the garden. We see humanity and God in fellowship with one another.
Rev. Terence Gray:But Satan comes in and interrupts that, and the thing that he destroys and the thing that he puts a wedge in between is this fellowship and this intimacy with God. And he still attempts to do the same thing with us today. Now you can interrupt a relationship with blatant sin, with blatant immorality, with blatant rebellion against God. Satan can do that. Or he can just speed up things on you, turn it up really fast on you, and cause you to live a hurried life.
Rev. Terence Gray:I don't know about you, but it's not easy to have a conversation when you're sprinting. Some of you guys might be in amazing shape, and you can sprint at full speed and probably have a conversation with somebody. It's very difficult to do that. Intimacy and fast paced living often don't go hand in hand. Intimacy is not done in a sprint.
Rev. Terence Gray:Intimacy requires a slow walk. See friends, you can be a Christian, you can be saved, you can know the Lord, and rarely slow down enough to enjoy God. You can have all that going. Your salvation is secure, you're going to heaven, but you're not slowing down enough to enjoy the God that you say that you love. If the devil can't steal your salvation, which he can't, if the devil can't steal your salvation, he'll often try to steal the joy of your salvation.
Rev. Terence Gray:He'll try to steal the joy of it. And the devil will steal your sleep if he can't steal your salvation. Some of us some of us are saved but scattered. Redeemed but restless. And Jesus is inviting you back, not simply just to believe in Him, but to be with Him and to enjoy Him.
Rev. Terence Gray:Psalm 46 is written by the sons of Korah. And the sons of Korah in Psalm 46 paint a picture of of chaos. There's chaos in the world. There are things that are unstable that used to be stable. There are things that are broken that used to be fixed.
Rev. Terence Gray:And in the scene that the sons of Korah are that they're painting in Psalm 46, we see absolute chaos. According to scholars, the tome of of Psalm 46 suggests that it was composed at a time of crisis. As they write this, they're looking around as the world crumbles around them. The context is full of disruptions, distractions, and disturbances. But let's take a look at the first couple of verses.
Rev. Terence Gray:Though all of this chaos is happening, the the author begins to focus on something else. The author says, God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Yes, there's chaos. Yes, there are things that are happening around us. But the attention is here.
Rev. Terence Gray:God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear. Though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and they foam and rage and the mountains quake with their surging. The big point here is that we will not fear. And I love the communal language. They're not just talking to themselves, they're they're speaking to a community, and they're saying that though things are shaking around us, God is our refuge and we will not fear.
Rev. Terence Gray:Mountains were a source of stability. Mountains represent stability. So the imagery of mountains falling into the sea is the imagery of something that is usually stable becoming unstable. Mountains are very predictable. They don't walk around.
Rev. Terence Gray:They don't move. They are constant, they're always there. Kinda like Texas, you can count on a mountain, it's gonna be there, it's gonna show up, it's gonna be in the same spot. And so this idea of a mountain falling into the sea is the idea of that which was stable, that which was reliable becoming unstable and unreliable. This is a chaotic scene.
Rev. Terence Gray:Can you imagine what the news coverage would look like if the Rocky Mountains just went into the sea? I mean, it would be everywhere. It'd be the number one trending topic everywhere. There'd be pictures and videos of it, and you couldn't keep your eyes on it if the Rocky Mountains just went into the sea. But this is not the main point of this psalm.
Rev. Terence Gray:Though these chaotic events are taking place, the authors here want you to focus on something else. The Psalms of Korah begin by acknowledging God, because God is stability in an unstable world. Now the chaos is real, but the chaos does not define the song. The mountains fall, the waters roar, the earth gives way, the nations race, the kingdoms fall, the world feels like it's in a free fall. But none of these things are the main subject of Psalm 46.
Rev. Terence Gray:I was hanging out with some musicians the other night who was sitting around a campfire talking about music, and I was hanging with some bass players. It was like three bass players around this campfire and we're just talking about music. And one thing that the bass players identified for me was that bass players kinda stay in the background and do their thing. They kinda stay in the background and they're they stay in the background and do their thing. Right?
Rev. Terence Gray:They're really really low key, but you can feel it. When you crank that bass up, you can feel it rumbling behind behind the scenes a little bit, but quite powerful. See, bass player is usually in the background. You might not always notice it, but you certainly can feel it. The chaos in Psalm 46 is like the baseline.
Rev. Terence Gray:It's it's in the background of the text. The chaos is the baseline. You hear it, you feel it, the rumbling underneath the entire psalm, but the chaos does not define the song. See, the chaos in Psalms 46 is not the main melody. God's grace and God's providence is the main melody.
Rev. Terence Gray:And so the chaos is rumbling, doom doom doom, in the background like a bass player, but God's grace is upfront, the main melody that the author of this text is wanting us to give our attention to. The mountains fall, dum dum dum, but God's God is our refuge and strength. The waters roar, dum dum dum. But there's a river whose streams make glad the city of God. The nations rage, but God is in the midst of her.
Rev. Terence Gray:Kingdoms may fall, but the Lord of hosts is with us. That is the song that Psalm 46 wants you to hear. Chaos is in the background, but the grace and providence of God is the main melody. And maybe that's what our faith journey is to be like. We're not pretending that the base isn't there.
Rev. Terence Gray:We're not pretending that that it's not present or it's not real or that we don't feel it. We're just saying that it doesn't define the story. Friends, are are you distracted? Maybe distracted by trials, tests, challenges. Sometimes those things can distract us so much that we miss what God is doing in the middle of it.
Rev. Terence Gray:We feel the rumbling, we hear the baseline, we feel the ground quaking, but sometimes we miss because we're so focused on that. We miss what God might be doing in the middle of it. In other words, has the bass in the background become so loud that it has drowned out God's voice? You ever thought about the fact that the bass is supposed to be there though? If you want a good song, you need a good baseline.
Rev. Terence Gray:It's it's all a part of the song. You need that tension, the trials, the uncertainty, the disappointment, the things that you wish weren't real. Psalm 46 doesn't pretend that they aren't there. They're part of the story. And God doesn't remove the chaos in order to give us peace.
Rev. Terence Gray:He doesn't send us to the moon like Grover. But instead, God provides perfect peace in imperfect circumstances so that He might get glory. He provides perfect peace in imperfect circumstances, so that He may get glory. Friends, as long as we live in this fallen world, the baseline isn't going anywhere. You're gonna hear the rumblings in the background.
Rev. Terence Gray:But God says, give your attention to me. And that's what the author of this Psalms says. They say, God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountain fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. The chaos is in the background, but there's a beautiful melody playing as well.
Rev. Terence Gray:Verse four and five says this, there's a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Both are images of water. We hear the wild rushing water earlier in the text, the water that unsettles and shakes. But now we're gonna hear about the water that sustains and and blesses. It says, there's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the most high dwells.
Rev. Terence Gray:God is within her. She will not fall. God will help her at break of day. We hear about the rushing water, but now we hear about this river and its streams. There's a striking contrast here.
Rev. Terence Gray:What makes this imagery even more beautiful is the fact that there was not a river in Jerusalem. Unlike other major cities in the ancient Near East, Jerusalem actually didn't have a river. Babylon had the Euphrates, Nineveh had the Tigris, Egypt had the Nile, but Jerusalem only had an engineered water system that allowed water to flow in. So this idea of a river is a big deal. But what the psalmist is saying is that the river here isn't describing geography.
Rev. Terence Gray:See, God Himself is Jerusalem's source. And though there is no big river flowing through the city, the streams from the river flow through this city and make the city glad. See, we often want the big river, But God is good in this way, He provides through the little streams. David is saying, take your eyes off of this rushing wild water. And I want you to set your attention on the little streams that God sends to bless you.
Rev. Terence Gray:Those small gifts that show up and provide for your needs. A conversation, a quiet morning, laughter with your children, a meal with friends, scripture that just hits in the right way all of a sudden, those unexpected blessings. God sustains us often through those little streams of mercy. See, God's presence allows rest for restless souls in a restless world. So where do we find rest?
Rev. Terence Gray:We find it in the presence of God. He shows up and He blesses through the little streams. We don't have to put on the helmet and go to the moon because peace is right here. God's blessing is right here. And He'll show up right in the middle of it.
Rev. Terence Gray:So sometimes you have to slow down. You have to slow down and pay attention to the little stream. I know you wanna see that the mountains are falling into the to the sea and the water is rushing and all these things are happening around you that are fighting for your attention. But sometimes you just gotta put that aside, slow down and cup your hands and acknowledge the little stream, the little blessings that God has all around you. Sip from the little streams.
Rev. Terence Gray:I just wanna encourage you to to do that, to put your attention there, because they're always there waiting for our attention. So that's the beautiful melody of this text. But we get back to the baseline really quick. The Psalmist says, nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall. So you hear that?
Rev. Terence Gray:Though the little streams are here, that's still going on in the background. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall. But then he lifts his voice, the earth melts, The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. He's the place that we hide.
Rev. Terence Gray:He's our he's our bunker. He's our safe place. He's our shelter. My wife is from Oklahoma and we have family in Oklahoma. The thing about Oklahoma, they're used to storms.
Rev. Terence Gray:And so because they're used to storms, everybody has like a a storm bunker or something like that. They they have a place that they hide during during the storm. And God is that for us. He's our safe place. He's where we go to take cover and take shelter in the storm.
Rev. Terence Gray:The text says, come and see what the Lord has done. The desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes war cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire.
Rev. Terence Gray:In the middle of chaos, as nations fight against nations, God intervenes. He makes wars stop all over the world. Can you imagine that? It's hard enough to break up a fight between two toddlers. God makes wars stop.
Rev. Terence Gray:And that's not easy to do. He alone brings lasting peace. He alone calms the anxiety in this world. And he gives us one thing to do, and it's very simple. Here's what he instructs us to do.
Rev. Terence Gray:In the midst of everything that could get our attention, And it sounds like a storm is outside right now. I'm not that good at props. But it but it came like came kinda like right on time. So I really want you to focus not on the storm. Thanks God.
Rev. Terence Gray:He says, be still because he is God. That's what we're we're called to do in the midst of everything that's happening around us. God says, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.
Rev. Terence Gray:In other words, God is saying, I got this. Don't worry about everything that's happening out there. I know that the mountains are falling into the sea. I know that there are things in your life that you can't control. You have some difficulty seas that you're trying to navigate.
Rev. Terence Gray:But God says be still, dwell with me, drink from the streams. I will take care of the world. You be still. Sometimes it feels like a luxury to be still, if we're honest. Quiet moments, a slow pace, kinda feels unrealistic.
Rev. Terence Gray:It's very counter cultural, and I imagine it's very hard for you to think about how am I actually going to do this, we're we're often so busy building lives that we can't be still. Friends, we can spend so much time chasing a life that we never slow down long enough to actually live, because we're building a life, chasing a life. We live in what economists call, an attention economy. Why is that? Everyone is fighting for your attention.
Rev. Terence Gray:There's an ad everywhere. There's a a promotion everywhere. And most advertising and promotion is trying to convince you that you are behind on something and that you're missing out on something and there's some urgent need that you have. There's always a new iPhone and they're all the same, by the way. I love iPhones but it's the same same phone.
Rev. Terence Gray:But there's always a new iPhone, a new diet, bigger house, better school that your kids could be attending, a better vacation spot. And if you fall prey to that constant messaging that you're somehow behind, you'll never actually slow down and enjoy anything. And eventually, that gets deeper than the things that you buy. It cuts into our identities. You start thinking, I am behind.
Rev. Terence Gray:I should be further along in my career. I am behind. I'm checking to watch. I thought I'd be married by now. I should have finished that degree by now.
Rev. Terence Gray:I thought we'd have children by now. I thought we'd have more saved in our savings by now. I thought I'd be further along by now. And so because of that, I I can't rest. I can't slow down.
Rev. Terence Gray:As a matter of fact, resting might even feel irresponsible. Friends, it's hard to rest when you feel like you are behind. When you're constantly feeling like you're behind, it's hard to rest. So I wanna I wanna leave you with these last few thoughts. Rest is not a luxury reserved for people who finally caught up.
Rev. Terence Gray:Rest is a gift from God and I pray that you would reach out and experience it experience it. I pray that you would take some time to slow down and drink from the little streams that God has placed in your life, that you would experience His goodness, that you wouldn't feel like you have to earn the right to slow down. Rest is such a such a luxury in our culture that sometimes we can unintentionally become the people who stop other people from experiencing rest. Let me explain. We load up our kids with activities, practice tutoring, clubs, tournaments until they have no room to simply be kids.
Rev. Terence Gray:We overwork our employees, make them feel guilty for using PTO, or create a culture where exhaustion is a badge of honor. We can even do it in our homes, making our spouse feel like they have to negotiate, justify, or fight for a break. And if we believe rest is a gift from God, we shouldn't make people fight us to receive something that God has designed for them. And this is just on the relational side of things. Don't make your fill in the blank, you know who that person might be, fight you for rest.
Rev. Terence Gray:But initiate opportunities for them to rest. Sometimes the the kindest thing you can do is to allow someone to take a break. And then give yourself a break too, take take yourself a nap. I had a friend back in Memphis who used to call it Jesus naps. Sometimes you need to take a Jesus nap.
Rev. Terence Gray:Jesus took naps. In the middle of the storm, Jesus took a nap. They woke him up because he was chilling, he was relaxing, taking a nap. And if Jesus needs to take a nap, then you do too. I'll leave you with this final thought.
Rev. Terence Gray:The system of this world says you can't rest if you want to live, but the truth truth is you can't live if you don't rest in Jesus. The world says you gotta do more, be more, have more if you're ever gonna really rest. But no, my friends, the truth is, you can't live if you don't rest in Jesus. Jesus says, come and live. He says, come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Rev. Terence Gray:He doesn't say, come to me after you've gotten your life together. He he doesn't say, come to me once you've accomplished a little more. He simply says, come. So what what does this mean for us? A lot of us are physically present, but emotionally exhausted.
Rev. Terence Gray:We're answering emails while we're eating dinner, checking notifications while talking to our kids, thinking about tomorrow, and just making our way through today. But the most spiritual thing that some of us could do this week is to stop, turn off the phone, close the laptop, go for a walk, laugh with your family, enjoy a meal, sit quietly with your Bible, and yes, go take a Jesus nap. This afternoon after church, just go take a take a Jesus nap. And if you and your spouse have to switch, you take a nap and then they take a nap. But we can do this when it's clear that our our value is not in what we accomplish, but our value is found in whose we are.
Rev. Terence Gray:And when we believe that, then we can have the peace that God has designed for us to have. I encourage you friends, slow down and and and drink from the little streams this week. Let's pray. Oh, Father God, we come before you in the mighty name of Jesus, acknowledging that you are our source of goodness. God, help us to see the streams all around us that you send to make us glad.
Rev. Terence Gray:It's in the name of Jesus that we pray together. Amen. Amen. I invite you to stand with me as we sing this final song together.
